Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways on Friday moved Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s May order that dismissed their pleas seeking Rs 1,323 crore in damages from SpiceJet.
The top court has agreed to hear their pleas against the budget airline on July 18.
These assertions by Maran, in the long-standing share transfer dispute, were already previously rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal and then the Delhi High Court, giving a breather to SpiceJet.
SpiceJet shares fell by nearly 1% after the news broke, trading at Rs 39.56 apiece on the BSE as of 12.30 PM.
The move comes after the Delhi High Court, in May 2024, dismissed the damage claims brought by Maran and KAL Airways, terming their actions as a “calculated gamble” that included unjustified delays, procedural lapses, and suppression of facts. The court had pulled up the former promoters for filing and refiling appeals with significant delays, describing their conduct as “lacking in bona fides”.
The legal battle traces back to February 2015, when Maran and KAL Airways transferred their 58.46% stake in SpiceJet to current chairman Ajay Singh. In 2017, Maran moved the Delhi High Court claiming that 180 million warrants, convertible into equity shares, were not issued to him as agreed.
The dispute was referred to arbitration in July 2016, and in July 2018, the arbitral tribunal rejected Maran’s ₹1,323 crore damages claim, awarding instead a refund of ₹579 crore plus interest. Both sides challenged the award.
In July 2023, a single-judge bench dismissed these challenges. SpiceJet and Singh filed timely appeals which were heard, while Maran and KAL Airways delayed their appeal by 55 days, followed by an additional 226-day delay in curing procedural defects.
The division bench, in May, rejected Maran's appeal citing "fence-sitting" tactics and “total absence of good faith,” and said the applicants had kept the court and SpiceJet "completely in the dark" about the pending appeals.
The top court has agreed to hear their pleas against the budget airline on July 18.
These assertions by Maran, in the long-standing share transfer dispute, were already previously rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal and then the Delhi High Court, giving a breather to SpiceJet.
SpiceJet shares fell by nearly 1% after the news broke, trading at Rs 39.56 apiece on the BSE as of 12.30 PM.
The move comes after the Delhi High Court, in May 2024, dismissed the damage claims brought by Maran and KAL Airways, terming their actions as a “calculated gamble” that included unjustified delays, procedural lapses, and suppression of facts. The court had pulled up the former promoters for filing and refiling appeals with significant delays, describing their conduct as “lacking in bona fides”.
The legal battle traces back to February 2015, when Maran and KAL Airways transferred their 58.46% stake in SpiceJet to current chairman Ajay Singh. In 2017, Maran moved the Delhi High Court claiming that 180 million warrants, convertible into equity shares, were not issued to him as agreed.
The dispute was referred to arbitration in July 2016, and in July 2018, the arbitral tribunal rejected Maran’s ₹1,323 crore damages claim, awarding instead a refund of ₹579 crore plus interest. Both sides challenged the award.
In July 2023, a single-judge bench dismissed these challenges. SpiceJet and Singh filed timely appeals which were heard, while Maran and KAL Airways delayed their appeal by 55 days, followed by an additional 226-day delay in curing procedural defects.
The division bench, in May, rejected Maran's appeal citing "fence-sitting" tactics and “total absence of good faith,” and said the applicants had kept the court and SpiceJet "completely in the dark" about the pending appeals.
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